To the End
by Manxboz
Summary: The Rebellion is in full swing but not in the Federations favour. The Rebel fleet has unveiled its new flagship and it is pure devastation. One guilt ridden officer is put in command of an obsolete vessel with a newly graduated crew. Their mission to deliver information about the flagship to the last remaining Federation fleet. Can they make it? Will the get to the end?
1. Prologue: First Command

The ship shuddered under the impact of the missile; sparks flew from the command console. How much more damage could she take he thought.

"Captain, we have to retreat, we can't take much more" came the engineer over the intercom

"We leave now Mr Briggs and this whole system is pillage by slavers" the captain responsed

He knew it was fruitless, the pirates were to well equipped and he was outnumbered three to one but he had to do something, this whole sector had been under siege by these villains for too long and the federation had sent him to sort it out.

"Reece, take all the power you need and lock onto the lead ship, aim for its heart"

"Aye, aye" buzz the reply.

The captain look out of the cockpit and saw three red strips travel across space and slam into the lead pirate ship. Its shields buzz and held for a fraction of a second before overloading.

"Get a missile in there now if you would be so kind" the captain barked at the weapons officer. The missile accelerated from its launcher and hit the enemy with a satisfying explosion, ripping the ship in two. The captain wanted to let out a shout of triumph but was stopped by the missile warning light on his console.

"Brace for…" The whole world around him seemed to twist and turn, everything was loud and quiet at the same time. He managed to regain control of himself, the console flashed angry red buttons at him, klaxons wailed their sorrow song in his ears.

"Structural integrity at 18%, imminent systems failure" the computer repeated in a strangely calming monotonous voice. The captain knew he wouldn't be able to take out the two other ships but he could at least do something before going out, "All crew, slave your systems to the command console and make for the lifeboat".

"Captain, no, we go out all together" came the reply from his second officer. He knew this would happen, the Federation Navy was brilliant at indoctrination. "No, my orders will not be countermanded, everyone make for the planet, help the defense forces there, do some good". No one objected this time and he saw his panel light up green as the various stations gave full control to his console. It would slow things down but not like he had much time left anyway. He tried the weapons systems but they wouldn't response.

"Lifeboat away cap'n" Reece came over the coms "now let's do some damage". The captain felt a mixture of rage, annoyance and relief. Reece was his oldest friend, they joined up together and when he got his first command, he made sure Reece came along too but now they would die together and that stabbed at his soul. "Take all power from shields and charge up the heavy laser, target everything at the big one, maybe we can do something about it before we go".

It would take 9 seconds for the heavy laser to charge and without shields a lot could happen; now it would be time for his academy topping flying skills to shine. He wrenched the joystick and pulled the throttle back, the ship banking hard towards the bigger pirate, presenting the smallest target to its weapons. Red lasers burnt lines into his vision as they danced across his screen. Only 6 seconds left, the board lit up red, sensors were down, hull breach in medical bay. Steady he told himself, gently rocking the stick as to avoid the incoming fire. 2 seconds, the ship jumped and a tremendous bang was heard, the ship was responding slower than it should. 0 seconds, 2 missiles and 5 lasers beams shot from the federation cruiser and darted for the pirate flagship. The lighter lasers hit its shields and brought them down in a spark of lightening, followed by the 2 heavy lasers a fraction of a second later, piercing the hull, while the missiles smack into the ship a little later, and their nuclear warheads creating a fantastic scene as they tore through the ship.

"Woooohhhhhooooo, you see that, top?" Reece excitingly shouted, his voice echoed through the corridors and didn't really need the com system.

Before the captain could response klaxons screeched their most deadly scream, a reactor failure. There was nothing to be done now, the reactor would go critical and with no engineer, it would tear the ship apart. He tried to get out of his seat, he wanted to see his friend one last time but before he could do anything explosions rocked the ship, power went out, everything went dark, he felt a sudden wave of pressure and then….nothing.

So this is what it is like to die.


	2. Chapter 1: Resurrection

*Beep*

What? I'm dead. How can I hear something? Though the captain

*Beep*

Wait! I know this sound but it makes not sense.

*Beep*

Agh, the light stings my eyes.

*Beep**beep**beep*

The captain suddenly sits up right in a bed, surrounded by white walls and machines confirming to him that he is in some medical ward. Before he can get out of the bed the doors open and in marches an officer, a Commodore to be precise.

"Ah,I see you are awake. I'm Commodore Kingsley and this is my starbase. You were fortunate that we heard your engagement confirmation and I had a frigate flotilla at my disposal."

"What about my crew?" The captain asked

"We rescued all those within the lifeboat plus we found you within the cockpit section, the emergency support system was just about to fail when we got you aboard, lucky for you" The commodore smirked.

"What about my weapons chief?"

"We found no weapons chief, your entire starboard section was gone, possibly already in a decaying orbit around the planet, Sorry"

The captain sunk into his bed, darkness enveloped him. Reece, his closest friend, gone forever. He couldn't accept that, they had signed up together and even after basic when he was selected for command they stayed in touch, he purposefully got him assigned to his ship when he was given it but all he had done was sign his death certificate.

"Get dressed and follow me, we have important things to talk about" Kingsley didn't wait for confirmation and started heading for the door of the infirmary. The captain look at the chair next to his bed, a fresh naval dress uniform was there. He put it on in a time that would've made his drill instructor proud and he felt renewed, a man with a purpose, even though he lost his best friend and his first command, he knew that it was navy life and that he was an officer of the federation and that came first. He looked at his sleeve and noticed his thick gold 1st lieutenant's braid had been replaced by the thick and thin gold braid of fleet lieutenant, maybe they had no 1st LT in stock and with that final thought he followed the commodore to wherever he was going.

The automatic doors swooshed open and revealed a dimly lit room, the commodore gestured for the captain to sit and proceeded to the front of the room. He grabbed a remote and a projector lit up and revealed the Federation Naval Intelligence logo embossed with a red lettered Top Secret.

"What you see here is completely confidential"

The logo gave way to a shot of the moon, taken by one of the many defense satellites orbiting earth. The captain knew this because he had seen the same shot many times during his training at the Lunar academy. He noticed something moving near the edge of the moon and before he could wonder too long the camera zoomed in, it was a massive ship, bigger than anything he knew the fleet had but curiously it had the gold and light blue colours of the Elite Third Fleet. The camera kept focusing upon the behemoth and the captain wondered why he was being shown a video of an experimental ship around the moon when it fired upon the surface. He felt uneasy inside, why would the Third Fleet fire upon Lunar? It made no sense. The camera moved as the satellite was clearly reacting to the violation of Lunar but before its massive accelerator cannon could be brought to bear it just shut down as if someone had flipped a switch. That was impossible, only three men in the entire universe could shut down the Terran Defence Grid and none of them were in Third Fleet. The Camera refocused upon the ship and registered the flashes of multiple torpedo launches. It recorded several more seconds, a torpedo growing larger before static flared up indicating lost of the satellite. The room was plunged into darkness for a few seconds before being light up, the captain notices that it wasn't just himself and the commodore who inhabited the room but also 4 others. 3 were wearing the uniforms of cadets whilst the fourth, a grizzled looking human, was a chief petty officer.

"Lieutenant, it seems the border situation that you were aware off a month ago was only the start of a bigger rebellion within the Federation"

"A month?!" the captain felt sick, his legs unable to support him, why didn't he think to ask sooner "I have been out a month?" He felt himself filling up with rage, a month of his life gone and the whole universe has gone to hell in a handbag.

"Yes, you have been unconscious for 25 days" The commodore stated matter of factly. "It appears that Rear Admiral Kotnev's Third Fleet has turned to the side of the rebellion and struck at Earth." The captain tired to make sense of it. Rear Admiral Kotnev was a war hero, ok so she was a well known human supremacist whose fleet was made up of around 97% humans but she was still all fleet, no way would she betray the federation. "The TDG failed to react to the attack, Lunar Base was struck with either heavy casualties or many changing their loyalties". It didn't make sense, the Federation had lasted for hundreds of years, it was the strongest force in the galaxy, having beaten the Mantis' twice and brought pirate activity to a near standstill. It couldn't be brought down in this short a time. The Terran council must have done something and as if to answer his question the commodore continued.

"The Terran Council, along with most of the Defense Staff and the President were executed 10 days ago on a live multi channel broadcast for crimes against humanity and the federation under a court martial held by Admiral Kotnev" The commodore seemed to sway a bit, unable to get over the tragedy "Luckily Admiral Tully was not in system and has taken control of all remaining forces".

Kingsley turned to face the 4 guests and nodded to them. "These four were on a training exercise above an old kestrel class light cruiser, they have valuable data about this new class of ship being used and this is where you come in", The captain now focused upon the four "We cannot transmit the data for fear of interception and termination, plus it would reveal where Admiral Tully is assembling his fleet but a small craft can get through the rebels and deliver it directly to him. I have only a skeleton crew here and they are all essential but these four need an assignment and with you being the only spare officer with command experience I need you and them to take the kestrel to Tully so he may stand a chance". He couldn't do it, how could he command again after the last time, he stood up to protest but… "You have your orders, you have 12 hours to rest and prep for your mission, I have given you all I can but it is down to you. Our analysts have given us 24 hours before a fleet arrives in system to apprehend us and about 30 days before Tully is found. You have carte balache in this, do everything you need to do to complete this mission." Kingsley opened the door and started heading out with the captain's new crew but stopped just short of disappearing "Oh and congratulations on your promotion Fleet Lieutenant" he laughed and was gone.

The captain was left alone in the auditorium. The Federation was in disarray, he had been given a one way, end all mission with only cadets to help him. He was never more unsure of himself, he couldn't lead these men, no matter what rank he held, he had only been commissioned as a real officer for 6 months and held command for 2 months. He had to talk to commodore out of it, maybe find someone else on board who could do it. He followed them out, running to catch up.


End file.
